Man’s Search for Meaning on Joe Biden’s Facebook Page

 

Joe Biden’s Facebook page is an endless scroll of passionate meaningless statements.  For example, “It’s not enough just to build back to the way things were before the pandemic – it’s time to build back better.”  And “Instead of continuing to fight the wars of the past, we are focusing on the challenges that hold the keys to our future.”  And “We are committed to working with our partners and allies to build a more prosperous future for all people.”  And I could go on and on.  But you seem like nice people.  So I won’t.  You should be sure to not visit his page someday.  It’s worse than you think.  Yes, I know what you think.  It’s worse than that.

But a recurring (…and recurring, and recurring, and recurring…) theme of his deep thoughts is that the wealthy do not pay enough taxes, and that he is going to fix that.  I know that whoever writes the dreck on his website has no intention of anyone actually thinking about what he says Biden says.  But just for fun (?), let’s look it up.  I think we can agree that the top 10% of wage earners are wealthy.  I would sit down and explain to Joe that they make more money than 90% of Americans, but I suspect that would be like explaining calculus to my cat.  He wouldn’t understand, and he wouldn’t care.  Anyway, those top 10% pay 71% of all income taxes.  So when President Biden says, “Folks, I don’t want to punish anyone’s success. But those at the top have been getting a free ride for far too long.  We’re going to change that.“, I wonder what, exactly, he intends to change it to?

If 71% of all income taxes is not enough, would 80% be enough?  Heck, let’s just say 90%, for argument’s sake.  Ok, that means that the lower 90% of all wage earners (whom I suspect Joe would lump into one group called ‘middle class working people’), would be paying the remaining 10% of all income taxes.  This would present a problem when Joe says, “It’s time that working people in this country got the tax breaks for a change.”, how would he do that?  How do you cut taxes of people who don’t pay them?  Plus, well, um – look, I’m getting bored writing this, because it’s a stupid post.  But it has to be, because it’s a stupid subject.  This is absurd.  Why am I wasting my time?

Because the left does.  They never stop.

So we agree to let the top 10% of wage earners to pay 71% of all income taxes to placate the left.  Ok, whatever.  Now they’ll be satisfied.  Right?

No.  They’re never satisfied.  How much is enough?

There is no limiting principle to leftism.  This is why even hapless fools like Biden, AOC, Pelosi, et al can be so dangerous.  It does not require towering intellect to understand the principles of leftism.  The only principle is ‘MORE‘.  More control.  More money.  More power.

Controlling man’s baser instincts, and thus controlling government, is a complex problem.  How do you maximize human liberty and prosperity while maintaining a stable, just society?  Many of the greatest minds in history have spent their lives pondering such questions.  Joe Biden has not.

It does not require a great mind to understand the concept of, ‘MORE.’  Obviously.

And Margaret Thatcher’s ratchet effect keeps clicking along.  After all, Joe’s just trying to help ‘working people’.

But not me.

He’s clearly not trying to help me.  I thought that I had worked my way up from losing my family’s hog farm at the age of 16 to becoming a successful physician after a lifetime of sacrifice and hard work.  I thought that such hard work should be rewarded.  I thought I was part of Joe’s ‘working people.’  After all, I work harder than most.

But no.  According to my President, I’ve “been getting a free ride for far too long.”

Normally, that would piss me off.  But I don’t have time to stew about it.

I’ve got to go to work.

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  1. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Dr. Bastiat: There is no limiting principle to leftism.  This is why even hapless fools like Biden, AOC, Pelosi, et al can be so dangerous.  It does not require towering intellect to understand the principles of leftism.  The only principle is ‘MORE‘.  More control.  More money.  More power.

    Don’t do anything that gives the left more power for this reason. Zell Miller is gone and he’s never coming back. etc.

    They do what they do, which makes everything worse, so they do more of it. The GOP barely puts any sand in the gears of this situation. 

    • #1
  2. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    The limiting principle on the right, which we are a million years from, is arguing with an anarchist about what we can privatize. There is a limiting principle. You can predict the improvements and the dynamics when you go in that direction. The left is completely bogus in this sense.

    • #2
  3. Western Chauvinist Member
    Western Chauvinist
    @WesternChauvinist

    Ack! And why does the “middle class” need investing in? What about the poor and downtrodden? 

    I’m embarrassed to say the Chauvinist household of four, with one full-time worker and two part-time just received a sizeable check from the government for “stimulus” er somethin’. I’m embarrassed because we don’t need it, but I’m even more embarrassed these jackwads in the administration don’t seem to understand that they’re devaluing the dollars we are earning by printing and dispensing funny money this way. Freakin’ idiots. /sorry, I’m getting more and more vulgar the farther into the Biden maladministration we get

    • #3
  4. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):
    I’m embarrassed to say the Chauvinist household of four, with one full-time worker and two part-time just received a sizeable check from the government for “stimulus” er somethin’.

    Just now? Again?

    • #4
  5. DrewInWisconsin, Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Regardless of what you think of Biden’s (AOC’s) “tax the rich” plans, it must be pointed out that “free ride” and “fair share” are not synonyms, yet the regime uses these terms interchangeably. 

    And what does “invest in the middle class” mean? I suspect it means throwing money at government programs which the “middle class” won’t be able to access (because they’re just too rich), but will result in providing the bureaucrats that create those programs with another source to skim off.

     

     

    • #5
  6. Dr. Bastiat Member
    Dr. Bastiat
    @drbastiat

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):
    Ack! And why does the “middle class” need investing in? What about the poor and downtrodden?

    Most people consider themselves ‘middle class.’  Even the rich and the poor.  Our own situation is normal.  People richer than me are rich, and people poorer than me are poor.  I’m middle class.

    So when I see Joe Biden giving money to the middle class, that means he’s giving money to me, personally.

    So now I’ll vote for him.

    • #6
  7. Western Chauvinist Member
    Western Chauvinist
    @WesternChauvinist

    The Reticulator (View Comment):

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):
    I’m embarrassed to say the Chauvinist household of four, with one full-time worker and two part-time just received a sizeable check from the government for “stimulus” er somethin’.

    Just now? Again?

    Yes, because we had some delays in getting our 2019 taxes straightened out thanks to COVID. 

    • #7
  8. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    If he wanted to tax the rich more, he could declare no more tax-free municipal bonds.   But he won’t. Because he is going to increase inequality of income and wealth, not decrease it. He can’t help it.

    • #8
  9. Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Democracy) Coolidge
    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Democracy)
    @GumbyMark

    Every tax bill since 1980 has removed more lower income Americans from the tax rolls, consistently making taxes more “progressive” as higher income taxpayers pay an increasing % of overall income taxes.  Today, the U.S. has the most progressive tax system in the developed world.  The top tax rate has decreased since the 1950s but higher income taxpayers actually at least as much, and many more, higher percentage of tax because all of the deductions available in the 1950s have been removed so the effective tax rate remains unchanged. 

    The problem isn’t fair or unfair tax rates, it’s that progressives have an insatiable appetite for other people’s money.  They will never run out of ideas for spending and no matter how much they spend it will not be enough.  As then Congressman Keith Ellison said, “The bottom line is we’re not broke, there’s plenty of money, it’s just the government doesn’t have it.

    • #9
  10. JustmeinAZ Member
    JustmeinAZ
    @JustmeinAZ

    Dr. Bastiat: This would present a problem when Joe says, “It’s time that working people in this country got the tax breaks for a change.”, how would he do that?  How do you cut taxes of people who don’t pay them? 

    Dummy! You just cut them a check every year to pay them back for the taxes  they would have paid if they earned more.  Or something like that.

    • #10
  11. DrewInWisconsin, Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    What’s also annoying is that he acts as if the working class didn’t receive a tax break during the Trump administration, so now he’s going to be the one to ride into town and rescue them all.

    Every candidate from both parties says the same thing about lifting the burden on the working class/middle class. I guess President Trump actually succeeded in many ways. But what good is it when everything costs three times what it used to?

    How about you stop SPENDING, dumbass? How about you stop devaluing our currency, dumbass?

    • #11
  12. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Progressive taxation adds no value. It’s just capricious central planning that sort of looks good and sounds nice.

    • #12
  13. DonG (2+2=5. Say it!) Coolidge
    DonG (2+2=5. Say it!)
    @DonG

    Dr. Bastiat: I think we can agree that the top 10% of wage earners are wealthy. 

    It is better not to conflate income and wealth.  The country taxes income, not wealth. 

    • #13
  14. DrewInWisconsin, Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    DonG (2+2=5. Say it!) (View Comment):

    Dr. Bastiat: I think we can agree that the top 10% of wage earners are wealthy.

    It is better not to conflate income and wealth. The country taxes income, not wealth.

    Not for lack of trying.

    • #14
  15. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    The second the Soviet union fell, they should have just taxed the crap out of everybody until we got the unfunded liabilities in order and the government got shrunk by a lot. Blow up the Eccles building at the same time and see if we can get by without it. lol

    • #15
  16. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    DonG (2+2=5. Say it!) (View Comment):

    Dr. Bastiat: I think we can agree that the top 10% of wage earners are wealthy.

    It is better not to conflate income and wealth. The country taxes income, not wealth.

    That’s what I think. Don’t let liberals talk like that.

    • #16
  17. DonG (2+2=5. Say it!) Coolidge
    DonG (2+2=5. Say it!)
    @DonG

    Dr. Bastiat: If 71% of all income taxes is not enough, would 80% be enough?  Heck, let’s just say 90%, for argument’s sake.  Ok, that means that the lower 90% of all wage earners (whom I suspect Joe would lump into one group called ‘middle class working people’), would be paying the remaining 10% of all income taxes. 

    Remember, “income taxes” are the not the same as “taxes on income”.  People in the upper 10% of income (or have low wages) stop paying FICA, which is about 15%.

    Congress loves high marginal rates, because that makes their tax loopholes more valuable.  Not everyone pays the same rate because of loopholes.  Any honest discussion would be about loopholes and not rates.

    • #17
  18. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Adding to #16, a lot of the wealthy’s wealth is just from printed money. Excess taxation and easy money create all of the problems in this country and they think they get to have wealth taxation to “fix” it when it’s really their stupid initiatives that caused it.

    • #18
  19. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    DonG (2+2=5. Say it!) (View Comment):

    Remember, “income taxes” are the not the same as “taxes on income”.  People in the upper 10% of income (or have low wages) stop paying FICA, which is about 15%.

    Congress loves high marginal rates, because that makes their tax loopholes more valuable.  Not everyone pays the same rate because of loopholes.  Any honest discussion would be about loopholes and not rates.

    All of this is as bogus as anything GOSPLAN came up with. 

    • #19
  20. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    Dr. Bastiat: This would present a problem when Joe says, “It’s time that working people in this country got the tax breaks for a change.”, how would he do that?

    Negative income tax, or earned income tax credit, which amounts to the same thing.

    • #20
  21. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Any talk of taxing the rich more is just dog-whistle for taxing the middle class more.

    • #21
  22. Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Democracy) Coolidge
    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Democracy)
    @GumbyMark

    DonG (2+2=5. Say it!) (View Comment):

    Dr. Bastiat: I think we can agree that the top 10% of wage earners are wealthy.

    It is better not to conflate income and wealth. The country taxes income, not wealth.

    Along those lines the Biden Administration is using another chart to support it claims that the wealthy pay a low percentage of tax on their income by including the value of stock holdings which are only theoretical dollars until such time as they are sold.

    • #22
  23. DrewInWisconsin, Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    The Reticulator (View Comment):

    Any talk of taxing the rich more is just dog-whistle for taxing the middle class more.

    Exactly correct.

    • #23
  24. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):
    they’re devaluing the dollars we are earning by printing and dispensing funny money this way.

    They’ve got to devalue the dollar if they hope to ever pay off a $28 trillion debt.

    • #24
  25. Doug Kimball Thatcher
    Doug Kimball
    @DougKimball

    This one is right out of the communist manifesto.  The rich are demonized and their earnings are illegitimate, hence can be confiscated (in the US, that means taxed to death.)  But in the Democrat playbook, the state (them), who confiscates this money, gets to decide how to spend it.  The fact that they get rich in the process, having produced nothing to obtain their wealth, is just their vig for redistribution.  They are skimmers.  They know that the majority of voters can be purchased with a government check or subsidy.  Sadly, too many can be bought simply because they want to diminish and punish the rich out of envy.  The best thing that the Republicans can do is celebrate the entrepreneur, point to their beneficence and employment, and cheer on success.  There are rich plumbers and rich lawyers.  Anyone who works hard can achieve.  We need to lionize hard work, sacrifice, perseverance and success, not self indulgence and immediate and irresponsible gratification.

     

    • #25
  26. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Randy Webster (View Comment):

    Dr. Bastiat: This would present a problem when Joe says, “It’s time that working people in this country got the tax breaks for a change.”, how would he do that?

    Negative income tax, or earned income tax credit, which amounts to the same thing.

    I don’t remember it very well, but yesterday they were talking about this on talk radio. It’s a back door UBI. It started one way and they are totally changing it. Childcare stuff.

    Having said that, they need to motivate the procreation of taxpayers.

    • #26
  27. DrewInWisconsin, Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Just remember, under socialism, the rich get very, very rich. The poor get very, very poor. There is no middle class.

    And that’s where we’re headed under Biden.

    • #27
  28. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… (View Comment):

    DonG (2+2=5. Say it!) (View Comment):

    Dr. Bastiat: I think we can agree that the top 10% of wage earners are wealthy.

    It is better not to conflate income and wealth. The country taxes income, not wealth.

    Along those lines the Biden Administration is using another chart to support it claims that the wealthy pay a low percentage of tax on their income by including the value of stock holdings which are only theoretical dollars until such time as they are sold.

    Embarrassing. 

    The Fed makes their assets go up, and then they can borrow on it year after year instead of taking income.

    Central planning begets more central planning until it all collapses. 

     

    • #28
  29. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… (View Comment):

    DonG (2+2=5. Say it!) (View Comment):

    Dr. Bastiat: I think we can agree that the top 10% of wage earners are wealthy.

    It is better not to conflate income and wealth. The country taxes income, not wealth.

    Along those lines the Biden Administration is using another chart to support it claims that the wealthy pay a low percentage of tax on their income by including the value of stock holdings which are only theoretical dollars until such time as they are sold.

    I think it was on The Libertarian podcast that Richard Epstein said that the Democrats want to tax unrealized capital gains.

    • #29
  30. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

     

     

     

     

    • #30
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